Friday, July 07, 2023
Possible Link Between Coronavirus Vaccines & Symptoms of Long Covid
Since the rush to develop serums as a preventative against SARS-CoV-2, the issue of vaccine injury ensued almost immediately. Instances of post-jab effects from the AstraZeneca and Janssen occurred, and the latter’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) was eventually revoked by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Some patients got hurt by the AstraZeneca vaccine, originally developed at University of Oxford, and the FDA never accepted that serum in the U.S., not even on an emergency basis.
Eventually, the mRNA vaccine by both Pfizer and Moderna was introduced and distributed initially as the solution to the Covid problem. Unfortunately these vaccines also triggered injuries to a point where a hearing was conducted in the United States Senate to spotlight what has been labeled an “ignored” problem. But the problem is gaining acceptance and can no longer be ignored.
Long vax
For the second time now an article in Science points to troubles with the COVID-19 vaccines. This time the prominent publication looks into a rare link between coronavirus vaccines and Long Covid like illnesses. Such a point of view during the national public health emergency was heavily scrutinized, but now such a vantage gains acceptance.
Gretchen Vogel and Jennifer Couzin-Frankel point out in the latest Science piece that Covid vaccines “saved millions of lives” but like other vaccines, there are side effects. Issues like rare cases of abnormal blood clotting and heart inflammation that can certainly cause real trouble, albeit in rare instances.
But now there is another complication attributed to vaccine injury, and this is a debilitating group of symptoms resembling Long Covid which is “elusive.” Its link to the vaccine is unclear, and its diagnosis is ill defined, but it is now being referred to as “Long Vax.” It is gaining wider acceptance among scientists and doctors.
“You see one or two patients and you wonder if it’s a coincidence,” says Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD a neurologist and researcher at Harvard Medical School. “But by the time you’ve seen 10, 20,” she continues. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Cases appear to be rare with symptoms like persistent headaches, severe fatigue, and abnormal heart rate and blood pressure. They appear hours, days, or weeks after vaccination and are difficult to study. This is not the first instance where symptoms of Long Covid have surfaced after administration of the Covid vaccine. Some of the symptoms include brain fog as well as other clotting concerns such as deep vein thrombosis.
More symptoms
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein which is used in the Covid vaccines can be one possible cause of the Long Covid symptoms post vaccination. Some people appear more vulnerable after both vaccination and infection with Covid.
Another symptom of vaccine injury is POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) which has also occurred post Covid vaccination. A study of the syndrome found within 90 days after a shot, the rate of POTS-related symptoms was about 33% higher than in the 3 months before; 2581 people were diagnosed with POTS-related symptoms after vaccination, compared with 1945 beforehand.
“Even last year, I was a little bit cautious” about the link between POTS and vaccination, says Tae Chung, MD a neuromuscular physiatrist who runs the POTS clinic at Johns Hopkins University. “I didn’t have quantitative data to back it up, but now I feel like I do.” Still, Chung stresses that this paper and other data also suggest Covid-19 vaccines protect against POTS and other Long Covid symptoms, and he remains a strong advocate for vaccination.
As the world moves towards the next round of Covid vaccines, people who have not suffered from vaccine injury are probably safe. However, there is a need to help those who have endured damage from Covid vaccines.
Based on the tracking of studies and reports of COVID-19 vaccine injuries worldwide TrialSite estimates that anywhere from 0.0018 to 0.008 of a population receiving Covid vaccines struggles with some persisting vaccine-related side effects. Ones that impact quality of life severely enough to be considered a form of injury.
In the U.S. where at least 270 million people received at least one dose of the Covid serum, this means that just using this baseline anywhere from 486,000 to over 2 million people continue to struggle with some form of Covid vaccine-related condition. In some cases, it’s become debilitating and these patients are in desperate need of comprehensive care.
While most U.S. doctors still are not aware of the Covid serum-based contagion, many are now coming around. For example, a prominent Yale cardiologist, Harlan Krumholz, told the Science reporters that initially he was concerned that any anti-vaccine news would certainly fuel an anti-vaxx movement, one that becomes more vocal, and emboldened by the month.
Yet he and Akiko Iwasaki, a Yale immunologist, started to accept the reality that this condition, albeit rare, was occurring frequently enough that it required study. Hence just a year ago the two invited post vaccination patients into the LISTEN study, one that also includes long COVID patients.
But why don’t more doctors know about the vaccine injury situation? TrialSite’s founder Daniel O’Connor shared:
“During the national emergency in the U.S., as well as in other nations under the WHO led global emergency, health authorities seemed ultra-paranoid about vaccine hesitancy and thus, in many cases purposely sought to minimize any concerns arising out of Covid vaccination out of fear that they would not hit their targeted immunization numbers. This was a 70% fully vaccinated rate established initially by the WHO. The vaccines were to be a tool to help governments achieve herd immunity during the Covid pandemic but it turned out that while the countermeasures helped reduce morbidity and mortality in surges, they were not however, of the sterilizing type, meaning they could not control viral transmission.”
Of course, during Covid widespread censorship of both media and social networks now is commonplace knowledge for anyone that bothers to review the matter. Independent media platforms such as TrialSite reported on Covid vaccine injuries, and when sharing such articles on platforms like Facebook or Twitter, they would be summarily removed. It’s as if any criticism, even if true, were automatically categorized as anti-vaxx propaganda and abruptly rejected, terminated, and often individuals involved with the message, cancelled. So, in this way due to a confluence of forces during the national emergency, a free press, so vital in any vibrant democracy, was essentially severely disabled.
So, ask why more doctors aren’t that aware of the various conditions associated with the Covid serum, and well, the answer is in plain sight.
Worldwide Recognition
TrialSite has chronicled the Covid vaccine injury challenge in nations worldwide. Some countries have decent track records of fair and impartial reviews of vaccine injury compensation claims. Examples that come to mind include Taiwan and Singapore.
In Germany we reported that the European nation’s Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach recently acknowledged that while rare, injuries associated with Covid vaccines represented a mounting problem.
A large class action lawsuit was launched in Germany as well, with other comparable litigation occurring in English speaking countries, from the UK, to Australia and Canada.
Some Lingering Considerations
How many long Covid cases are actually long Vax? What’s the actual count of Covid vaccine injured in the U.S? With an all but useless emergency countermeasure vaccine compensation scheme (Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program) what will it take to bring the Covid vaccine injured into the standard vaccine compensation program called the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program?
Some broader issues are raised by all of this. Few are aware that a 1986 law under President Ronald Regan the U.S. government essentially waived all liability for vaccine injuries under the premise that otherwise the companies wouldn’t be incentivized to develop vaccines.
Are these universal protections for what is often large multinational corporations still as relevant as the number of annual vaccines on the childhood schedule have surged?
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Chinese Review of the Evidence—Long COVID Emerging as a Real Concern for Brain Health & Memory
Hanjun Zhao a microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, School of Clinical Medicine and Qiulu Ding, at Shanghai Normal University review the state of the evidence associated with long COVID and impact on the brain and memory.
The prospect isn’t good. TrialSite has chronicled anywhere from 10% to 20% of SARS-CoV-2 infections may advance into long COVID, a condition increasingly places a heavy burden on not only health systems but also human society. There is a sufficient amount of research now providing the evidence that now should impact medical establishments and government—and the latter’s willingness to invest in necessary research.
The Hong Kong and Mainland China based authors’ piece, recently published in the journal Nature, reveal the very real risk of “brain damages” associated with COVID-19 including direct vial infection in the brain, immune disfunction and persistent viral infection all potentially impacting both brain and memory.
But much about what happens in the form of damage to the brain is still not well understood in the context of COVID-19 and long COVID. Specifically additional research is required to further understand long COVID pathogenesis.
And what about prevention strategies for reducing the risk of the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on longer term brain health, especially in children, with their additional vulnerabilities. They include:
Vaccination
Antivirals
Symptomatic treatment
Masking
Exercises
Good consistent sleep
Balanced, nutritious diet
The literature, according to the duo, raises particular concern about long COVID and the implications for children. Given the still developing brain, impact on study efficiency and disruption to self-confidence in the maturation process. How can human societies bolster their protection against SARS-CoV-2, particularly aiming to reduce the probability of long COVID in children?
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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